“I Want it All!”

Straight from the famous Queen lyrics! We want it all and want it now! Don’t we?! You might be starting your home search and think that you’re pretty level-headed about what you want. Most people do. I did too when I was looking for my last home. When I ask someone what they’re looking for, it makes me chuckle after minutes go by and they suddenly realize their list kept getting longer and longer and longer! What I encourage every buyer to do is to write down the following list:

1.) One column for Must-Haves

2.) One column for Can Live Withouts

3.) One column for Indifferent

Once you’re done making that list, rate them all highest to lowest priority in each column. For instance, if you had 13 must-haves, put them in order of what you would want first, 1-13. I know it sounds crazy, but there’s a reason behind it. Let’s say a pool and tile floor is on your must-have list, but they were ranked 9 & 11 in that column. These are things that may have been deal breakers before this list, but what you begin to realize after spending time doing this is that there are things you can change/upgrade yourself after your purchase the house…or maybe it’s not a must-have after all. Trust me, if we COULD have it all then we all would! That’s not how life works…and, for good reason! We learn to compromise, get out of our comfort zone and discover new likes and dislikes.

I once was helping some buyers that had a huge laundry list of must-haves. I gave them my advice, but to them at the time it “wasn’t necessary” because they “knew what they wanted”. Okay! So, I set out to show them the first home. Nope, wasn’t good enough. Didn’t have this or that and didn’t measure up. I pointed out all the ways that it could fulfill most of their must-haves, but they still passed. So, we moved on to home after home after home. Almost 100 homes later, they begged me to see one certain property. I said, “We’ve already seen that one. It was the first house we looked at.” “No way!” They insisted. That couldn’t be. Well, you guessed it. After all that searching, their Realtor was right! We negotiated a lower price, they bought it and made it their own! Today, they LOVE their home and are so thrilled with their purchase. So, next time your realtor gives you some tips on how to prepare for house-hunting, you may want to listen! They might know a thing or two…